INCLINE MY HEART TO KEEP YOUR WORD
Dear Friends,
There is a story of a famous reformed theologian who began his first class in Systematic Theology by asking one of the students to open in prayer. A student did, and then the prof outlined the heresies, errors, and confusion in evidence in the student’s prayer. Next class, the prof made the same request. A different student prayed, and once again the prof outlined the heresies, errors, and confusion in evidence in the student’s prayer. Next class, the prof makes the same request. There is silence. Finally, one student says he will open in prayer. He then prayed, “Our Father, who art in heaven” and continued onto pray all of the Lord’s Prayer. Almost all of my prayers are extemporaneous, but I have learned the great value of listening to, and praying from my heart, some wise, orthodox, biblically faithful written prayers. From the time of the English Reformation, there has been a prayer which is prayed, after each of the first nine of the Ten Commandments are read. Note, next week I will share with you the prayer that is prayed after the tenth and final of the Ten Commandments. Both of these are wise prayers that it would be well to learn to pray as you read and listen to the Bible, God’s word written. Here is the prayer, “Lord have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law”. Please note, the prayer is prayed with others, hence the plural. I often quietly pray the following after I have read a Bible passage, “Lord have mercy upon me and incline my heart to keep Your word”. A couple of points.
First, the written prayer reminds me of important truths and helps me to pray in light of truths about God and me. “Lord” can refer to God or to the Lord Jesus Christ. Most importantly, it reminds me that He is Lord and I am not. He is Lord and there is no other. I do not speak to Him as my equal. I speak to the one who truly is Lord, and by salvation, is truly my Lord. I am always in need of His mercy. He is never in my debt. He is only good. He is only love. I am finite and fallen and am in need of His mercy and grace every minute. In myself, my heart is inclined to reject His word, to neither receive nor walk in light of His word. So it is good to honestly acknowledge this, and ask Him to do that work of grace that only He can do, to “incline my heart to keep His word”. It is the longing of every true Christian that the day will come, when the “natural” trend of our heart is towards the Lord and His word, not away from it.
Second, the prayer is a clear, biblically formed request straight to the Lord. Many extemporaneous prayers that I hear are sermons, lectures, explanations, excuses, and updates – in other words, the “prayer” is to the congregation or some other group. Sometimes it is hardly to the Lord at all. This brief prayer is clear and directly to the Lord about matters of your heart. It is biblically and theologically true, and so also instructive, but it is clearly a prayer to be prayed to the Lord. It is not saying “Listen up people” or “Listen self”. It is to the Lord. Praying this prayer as your prayer helps you to pray.
Third, this prayer, like other good written prayers, does not have to be “mere words” legalistically required. I am an Anglican. I can share with you the scars I have received from those who treat the liturgy in a legalistic fashion. But bad use does not mean there cannot be good use. In my private devotion, I have changed the plural words to singular, and changed “law” to “words”. I pray the words from my heart to the Lord, thankful that I have learned a wise and godly way to personally pray from a Christian martyr who lived and died many centuries ago. The prayer does not bind me, but launches me. Learning the words to pray helped me when my own feeble resources could not articulate what I know I needed to pray, from my heart, to my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
George+